Proofing Tracking

Volume 4, Issue 1

International Parti Poodle Gazette

January 2008

PROOFING TRACKING
PART III

Author: Andrea Dugan
Holistic Dog Training
www.k9connectiononline.com

In Part I and II of this series, I discussed how to start your dog on tracking. In Part III, I will discuss how to teach duration and continuation and how to proof.

I believe that one of the secrets to training is proofing. Proofing is nothing more than asking Thunder (my tracking dog) questions. His answers to these questions dictate what I do next.

When applicable during tracking, I do the following:

INCREASE TIME – I increase the length of time between when I lay the track and when Thunder is sent to track it.

INCREASE DISTANCE – I increase the distance he must track before he receives reinforcement. I also increase distance between us. Eventually, we must be at least 20 feet apart.

ADD DISTRACTIONS – There are four different places where I can add distractions.

1) The distraction is static. This means that before I send Thunder on a mission, I have placed something the he may find attractive in the area. The question I ask Thunder is,
“Will you choose to perform the cued behavior even if I place this in your path?”

2) Before I give Thunder the cue. An example of this would be if I toss one of Thunder’s favorite toys and then cue him to find the scent pad. “Will you commit to finding the scent pad even if I toss a toy near it?”

3) After I give Thunder the cue. I cue him to find the scent pad, and as he makes his first move to find it, I toss a toy near it. “Can you make the correct decision of looking for the scent pad even if I try to distract you with your toy?”

4) After Thunder commits to performing the behavior. I have cued him to find the scent pad, and when he is committed to finding it, I toss the toy. “Can you stay committed to finding the scent pad even if I toss a toy?”

PROOFING THE GLOVES
I’m sure there will be times on the track that Thunder will be tempted by different smells of small animals. I want to make sure that Thunder understands that “committing” to indicating the article is reinforcing.

Increase time – I increase the amount of time he must lie down to indicate the glove.

Increase distance – I increase the distance between us when he indicates the glove. On the track, I must be at least 20 feet behind him. He needs confidence to be out in front on his own, so I slowly increase the distance between the two of us.

Add distractions:

Static – When I set up the glove for him to find, I put a distraction in his way so he has to ignore it to get to the glove. (Beginning of Cross Tracks)

Before the cue – Before I give Thunder the cue to indicate the glove, I create a distraction.

After the cue – After I give Thunder the cue to indicate the glove, I create a distraction.

After Thunder commits to performing the behavior – When I have cued him to indicate the glove and he is about to lie down, I create a distraction.

THE SCENT PAD
In order for a dog to naturally track anything, rabbits, birds, field mice, or deer, he must start by gathering information from the environment. One piece of that information that I can and must give Thunder is what I want him to track. A scent pad serves that purpose.

When the tracklayer puts the starting stake in the ground, the ground immediately to the right of it is disturbed. The tracklayer scuffs or stomps a 3 X 3 foot square on the ground. This is going to be the starting point where Thunder takes his first sniff.

However, initially I use a scent cone to narrow the amount of searching Thunder has to do in order for him to find the track.

When a drug dog quarters a specific area, he works back and forth in a zigzag motion. He is trying to pick up the scent of something different, in his case it is drugs.
The strongest odor comes from the source, in our case the source is the glove. The farther away the dog is from the glove, the wider dispersed the scent becomes. The scent also becomes less concentrated. So, the dog must figure out how to get to the strongest scent. If he goes too far one way or the other, he is out of the scent cone and loses the scent. The closer he gets to the object, the narrower and more concentrated the scent. This also helps him understand how to track when the environment comes into play.

When I say the cue “Track”, I want Thunder to immediately put his head down to the ground and start searching for a scent that is reinforcing. Initially, that scent comes in the form of treats that I have placed directly on my footprints. I set up a scent cone in the following way.

If there is any breeze, I want it to blow down the track, away from the scent cone. I do not want it to be blowing in Thunder’s face. This would cause him to lift his head which is NOT what I want him to learn to do. I want him to learn how to keep his nose to the ground.

Step #1
Thunder is on a buckle collar with a six-foot leash, but I have the leash gathered up so it is about three feet long. I want to be able to influence his decision, so I stay by his right shoulder. I am NEVER ahead of him. I walk him up toward the bottom of the scent cone so he is approaching the middle of it. If he just stands there, I point to the ground. The moment he puts his nose down(2), I give him my marker. He is reinforced when he finds the food. I work him all the way up to the end of the scent cone(3). When he has finished with the last piece of food, I release him(4) and walk him off the track.

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(2) He has just started to perform a behavior.
(3) This is the continuation concept. Keep performing the behavior until I give you another cue or release you.
(4) I have now ended the behavior. He can no longer earn reinforcement.

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Step #2
I start to eliminate the treats on the scent pad. This is done by removing the two treats closest to Thunder so he has to search forward, up the scent cone for the treats. Then I eliminate the next two so he has to search further up the scent cone, etc. I practice Thunder voluntarily putting his nose to the scent pad until I feel he is confident before I put the last treat on top of a glove and add a track to it.

ADDING THE HARNESS
When Thunder is indicating articles like a pro, I put the tracking harness on him and see how he reacts to it, and when he is comfortable wearing it, I ask him if he can find the gloves and then find the scent cone. He must be comfortable with this before we go any further.

PROOFING THE SCENT CONE
Because I am also training for a TDX, I want Thunder to be prepared for anything he will encounter on any track. I set up at least five scenarios, each increases in complexity. Below are some sample questions I ask Thunder:

INCREASE TIME
“Can you find the scent cone if it is five minutes old?”(5) What if it is ten minutes old?” “What if it is fifteen minutes old?”

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(5) Anytime he says “No” to any question I ask, I look at my training and ask myself a few questions:

• Have I made it clear enough to him what I want him to do?
• What can I do to make it easier for him the next time?

Anytime he answers “Yes” we move on to the next question.

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I want Thunder to be able to find the scent cone on his own. I set up five scent cones in a row, about ten feet apart. I walk past them with him on my left side, closest to the scent cones, and watch to see what his reaction is. I am the black line, Thunder is the dotted line.

If he goes to investigate, I mark and his reinforcement is at the tip of the scent cone on a glove. If he doesn’t, I must make it a bit more obvious what I want him to do by walking a bit closer to the bottom of the scent cone.
INCREASE DISTANCE
“If we walk right next to the bottom of the scent cone, are you interested enough to investigate?” “If we walk one foot away from the bottom of the scent cone, are you interested enough to investigate?” “If we walk two feet away from the bottom of the scent cone, are you interested enough to investigate?”

“Are you confident to search the scent cone if you have three feet of leash?” “What if you have six feet of leash?” “What if you have ten feet of leash?”

“Thunder, if we approach the scent cone from a different angle, can you find it?” If he says “No” we have more work to do. If he answers “Yes” I ask another question.

ADD DISTRACTIONS
Question #1: (Static) “Thunder, can you commit to finding the scent cone if I put a distraction (where the smiley face is) in your path?” I want him to make a choice, go after the distraction or commit to finding the scent cone.

Question #2: (Before) “Thunder, can you commit to finding the scent cone if before I give you the cue to find the scent cone, I create a distraction?”

Question #3: (After) “Thunder, can you commit to finding the scent cone if after I give you the cue to find the scent cone, I create a distraction?”

Question #4: (Commitment) “Thunder, can you stay committed to finding the scent cone if I create a distraction?”

Question #5: “Can you find the scent cone if . . . “

• The wind is blowing toward you?
• The wind is blowing from left to right?
• The wind is blowing from right to left?

INITIAL FOOTWORK
Thunder understands the beginning of the track – the scent pad – and the end – the glove indication. Now he has to learn what to do between the two. The purpose of the footwork is to give him a specific picture of what to follow to find something that is reinforcing. I have three phases of footwork that I use.

PHASE #1
Phase #1 is always used when I am introducing something new on the track. It is used when I introduce these components:

• A new leg
• A new turn
• Aging the track
• Distance
• Distractions

With Phase #1, my footwork is heel to toe, one foot immediately in front of the other. I scuff my left foot, bring my foot back a bit so I can put a treat in the toe, then scuff my right foot, bring it back so I can put a treat in the toe. When Thunder is confident, I start to slowly eliminate the food.

PHASE #2
With Phase #2, I still stomp hard on the track; however, my footsteps are getting wider apart. I still put a treat in the toe of the footsteps. When Thunder is confident, I start to slowly eliminate the food.

PHASE #3
With Phase #3, I am walking a normal pace with the normal amount of pressure applied to each step. When Thunder is confident, I start to slowly eliminate the food.

After Thunder understands how to perform the scent cone, I teach him how to track a straight line.

Phase #1
Heel to Toe Phase #2
½ step Phase #3
Normal Stride

Phase #1
Heel to Toe Phase #2
½ step Phase #3
Normal Stride

HOW TO TRACK A STRAIGHT LINE
In my opinion, the track is nothing more than an extension of the scent cone. I teach Thunder how to “continue to perform the behavior until given another cue or released.” In this case, “another cue” is the sight of the article which he knows he must lie down to indicate it.

Unless otherwise noted, I increase the length of a track by 20 pace increments. To teach Thunder to track past the scent cone, I use Phase #1 tracking for 20 paces, with food in the toe of each step. Because I want thunder to understand he is on a mission, I drop a glove at the end of the track.

After you lay your track, walk normal for about 20 paces, make a turn to the left or the right, for about 20 paces and then turn back toward the beginning as to not contaminate the track.

The dark line is my first 20 phase #1 footsteps with a glove at the end. The dotted line is what I walk after I have made the track so:

• If Thunder gets up from indicating the glove to track again, he has something to follow, and I can release him.
• I don’t contaminate the area with footprints that don’t belong on the track.

When I introduce the first leg, I approach the scent cone straight on. When Thunder understands what to do on the leg, then I approach the scent cone from different directions.

Thunder is on a six foot leash. We perform the scent cone as normal; however, when he starts searching for the beginning of the first leg, I walk on his right side even to his rib cage. If he continues sniffing the leg, I am quiet and let him concentrate to see how it goes. If he needs help, I help him with my target stick. When he gets to the glove, I see what he does. If he indicates, and he should be doing that by now, I reinforce. If he doesn’t, I softly remind him what to do until he is correct and he earns reinforcement ON THE GLOVE.

Here is a puppy named Turbo at 16 weeks old. We have started asking him questions, thus challenging him.

1. His handler is now at the end of a six foot leash
2. Turbo is now wearing a harness, and
3. We are asking him if he can still find the track in a terrain change

I’m not sure if you can see it very well, but the grass has gone from cleanly mowed to grass that is about two inches high. The grass was much drier where it was cleanly mowed.

Down by the trees, Turbo will be running into mushy, mucky ground with little puddles. His track still has food drops on it; however, they are about 30 feet between each one. As you can see, he’s picking up one that he almost missed. His handler is patiently waiting for Turbo to move forward. Good handler!

As soon as the piece of food was consumed, Turbo immediately returned to the track. What a good dog!

Turbo’s ground is now starting to get a bit mushy. He isn’t having a problem going through it. Remember, the scent may be a bit stronger than it was where the grass was drier. This mushy area can hold the scent a bit longer. If Turbo had a sensitive nose, it might be too much for him to sniff on the ground. However, he seems to be doing a pretty good job.

Here is Turbo’s first experience at negotiating something other than a field. He is being asked if he can still find the track if it goes through trees. This photo was taken in the fall so leaves are also on the ground. His handler is keeping the leash up and is staying behind Turbo.

In this last picture, Turbo has made his turn in the “woods” and in mucky ground. His turn was very crisp and accurate. He is now on his second leg of the track. He is working with confidence, keeping his nose to the ground. His handler is doing a beautiful job handling the leash, keeping it taunt, but not tight, as well as holding it about waist high.

CONTINUATION
Thunder has learned many of the elements needed for tracking. He can find the scent cone, track a treat free Phase #3 leg for at least 100 paces and each new element has been proofed. We are going to add a new element, continuation. Remember back when I taught Thunder how to indicate gloves? I had five of them in a row. I am going to start to add gloves to our straight track and because this should create drive, I am going to lengthen the track as well, and then increase the time it has aged before I run him.

OVER TIME YOU WILL UNDERSTAND HOW TO READ YOUR DOG AND BE ABLE TO INTEGRATE MANY QUESTIONS ON ONE TRACK!

I hope you enjoyed this tracking article and that it was helpful with your tracking endeavors. If you have any questions, please fee free to email me at:
K9connection@verizon.net.

Happy Tracking
Andrea Dugan